Desperate Times
by GraceoftheWhiteNoise
Summary: When your desperate anything will do, luckily he found her. This story will be graphic. Sexual situations, blood and gore, plus whatever is to come.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Predator

Summary: When you desperate anything will do, luckily he came across her. PredXHuman

Warning: This story will be graphic. Sexual situations, blood and gore, plus whatever is to come. I actually hunt so some of this is coming straight from experince so if you like Bambi and/or disagree with hunting animals i do not suggest reading.

Chapter One

* * *

><p>The chill bit through her parka raising goose bumps along her flesh and although the wind was slight it had the bite of Mother Nature's promise of a cold and unforgiving winter to come. The sun was rising, she couldn't see it in the depths of the woods but she could feel it. The forest was waking and the impenetrable black her eyes had grown accustom to, was now a world of stark grays and shadows. The crunching of animals walking slowly on the stiff, dead, and snow specked grass reached her ears. She didn't move, her breath stilled in her lungs, eyes slowly scanning the trees looking for the source.<p>

Three deer emerged from the forest following the path that they had been using all summer and possibly longer than that. The path led to a clearing less than half a mile away were they grazed. Two does followed by a young buck, its antlers no more than three inch spikes behind each twitching ear. All three walked at a leisurely pace behind one another, cautiously sniffing the air and ears rotating one hundred and eighty degrees. Deer are skittish creatures and to hunt them with any success involves patience. To be still for so long, before the sun even rises waiting for one opportunity, one opening, a chance that may not even present itself. The opportunity that she was waiting for was one of perfect planning.

Ten yards away was a large pine tree, thick branches stemmed from its trunk, and twenty-five yards past that is the path that her prey was traveling on. Coupled with a bend in the path and the ancient pine tree there was a blind spot where her prey couldn't see her position. Enough time to draw her bow and release a clean broadside shot when the doe cleared the tree. Adrenaline hit her system, heightening her already keen senses. The doe on the end was what she needed, the young buck too lean and the leading doe although nearly identical to the other was perfectly healthy. A limp, barely noticeable, on the trailing doe's front limb made her decision. The weaker prey wouldn't live as long as the healthy, picked off by predators such as herself and in the middle of the rut it would be better for the species for the weak to be eaten first.

The leader disappeared behind the tree, then the buck, and finally the trailing doe. She felt her breath slow, pulse rising, she slowly lifted the compound bow in her arms, arrow already notched, drawing the cable taunt leaning slightly forward allowing her chin to rest against her hand her right eye focused straight down the sights. Deep breath in and released in a huff of steam in the early November air, then followed by the crunching of hooves in the rotting leaves and grass. Glancing towards where the other three deer emerged her heart began to beat even faster if possible. The buck was large the way only the northern deer get its antlers thick and spread wider than its swivelling ears. Her inner hunter emerged, no longer was it about food, about eating, it was about satisfaction. The buck followed the path at a trot with obvious intentions toward the does, nose low to the ground in full rut. She held her bow drawn using her arm strength combined with the pulleys in the compound bows. Breathing slowly again she reassessed, the buck was traveling at a faster pace but still a reasonably easy shot. It disappeared behind the tree, she breathed deep once more, the buck cleared the tree still oblivious to the danger, exhale.

Release.

A clean shot, a clean kill. The arrow was silent upon release and the only sign she had hit her target was the deer bucking its back legs before taking off into the woods and the blood that covered the arrow when she pulled it out of a tree trunk a little past where she had been aiming. The buck ran thirty yards before collapsing, which was not surprising, a deer shot straight through the heart can run over five minutes before dying. The arrow hit right in the boiler room, the area behind and slightly up from their front limb where all the primary internal organs reside, and passed through completely. She followed the smatterings of blood toward the fallen prey, heart still beating quickly, she extended the aluminum bow to tap the buck's meaty hindquarters.

Stillness.

Unclipping the hunting knife strapped to her thigh she took no chances of the animals suffering and gripped the buck by the smooth antlers, pulling its head up off ground, she dragged her knife across the animal's throat. Red spilled across the soft patches of snow and dead foliage. The metallic tang hit the crisp air accompanied by the rising steam from the once living animal. She then quickly flipped the animal onto its back, she simply wasn't willing to waste precious energy dragging the heavy animal the two miles back to her cabin, she would field gut the buck here and it would lessen her burden by a significant amount.

She used her hunting knife to cut the hide down the center of the animal's body beginning at the hollow of the neck right to its sex, which she also quickly removed and tossed to the side. Then pulling out her bone saw from her belt sheath she then began to hack her way through the animal's ribcage with a small grunt. Breaking through at the animal's throat she then reached in its blood filled cavity the grip the slippery ribbed esophagus before severing it and moving down slicing the linings that hold the organs to the sides and back of the deer's cavity. Quickly inspecting the heart, its mass slightly larger than that of a human, she was pleasantly surprised to see it intact. Reaching behind her into her pack she pulled out a plastic bag which she then put the heart in after cutting it from its thick arteries. Steam was rising out of the deer's inside but the blood was thickening as it oozed out of the organ. She needed to work faster before the deer began stiffening. She cut the diaphragm, which was a lining of muscle under the lungs, also closing off the digestive organs from the heart and lungs. She then gripped the windpipe from the top of the animal and wrenched its guts out and through its hind legs spilling them onto the ground in a pile of gore. All that remained it the cavity was a pool of cooling blood.

Gripping the animal by a front and hind leg she awkwardly flipped the deer onto its front letting the blood drain. Scooping a handful of the fresh snow in her hands she quickly rubbed some of the blood off. She then removed her pack and rifled around before removing a length of rope, she then put the heart in her bag after tying the plastic in a quick knot. Tying the rope around the buck's neck she then spared herself a moment to glace at her watch. Quarter to seven she made out in the dim mourning light, she spared a satisfied smile not only for her successful scout of the path and resulting kill but also her quick cleaning of the animal. Gripping the rope over her shoulder and turning the buck on its side she began the walk back to her cabin.

She would skin her kill and then eat breakfast, she was already hungry from her previous task.

* * *

><p>Only after she had walked into the brush and out of sight did he come down from the tree he had been watching her from. He crouched down and inspected the animals abandoned insides, prodding about with the tip of his compacted spear. Pulling the liver out of the steaming pile he was disappointed that woman had also taken the beasts heart as well. He looked towards the direction the three other animals had went, then towards the direction the human had disappeared in. Quickly he ate the cooling liver, gratefully for even the smallest bit of nourishment, and then quietly he began stalking his new prey. He had a score to settle.<p>

* * *

><p>She arrived at her cabin an hour later with her shoulders and legs sore from dragging the buck. However she was now wide awake in the warming sun and crisp air in the small clearing her family cabin sat in. Small but modern, it was only fifteen years old built on top of the ground where the previous cabin had burnt when a neighbouring tree had caught fire from a lightning strike. However it had stood unoccupied for the last two and a half years, and you could see the neglect with the tall grass and small saplings that had started to encroach on the clearing. Since her parents death she had been the last person who knew of the cabin up in the Canadian wilderness besides the few in the small town who kept an eye on it while they were gone. Memories plagued her here of her lost family and it was a bitter reminder of the happiness she had once been a part of. But it suited her current need for isolation and it would keep her safe. She couldn't be much safe anywhere else.<p>

To the right of the cabin sat the shed where the generator and gas was kept, a large indented fire pit encircled by rocks sat in the center of the clearing directly in front of the cabin, and on the east side of the clearing slightly in the bush was two old hydro poles with a third as a beam on top of them. Hanging from it was two pulley systems, one that she now used to hang her kill up using the length of rope already tied about its neck.

Hanging it only so its hind legs rested on the ground she looked at the assortment of objects hanging from nails positioned along the poles. First using a hack saw, that was placed on one of the nails, she removed all four legs and tossed them one by one into the brush. Then taking out her still bloody knife she began to skin the hide off, beginning at the deer's neck, peeling it down the animals back and around what remained of the front legs. Once she skinned past the front legs she pulled the golf ball out of her camo pants pocket. Taking a length of rope of another nail along the poles , she wrapped the golf ball in the hide already skinned off the deer's back.

Tying the rope around both the golf ball and the hide it was wrapped in, she then tied the other end to the hitch of her quad already parked and ready by the tackle poles. Hopping on she turned the key in the ignition and began driving across the clearing at a slow pace. The deer began to lift up until it was almost perpendicular to the ground then the skin began to peel off the muscle and fat. Revving the engine once the skin sudden flew of the animal turned inside out like a wet whitish sock. The deer swung from the pulley back and forth like a morbid pendulum, its hind quarters hitting the trees behind it.

Turning the quad off she stopped it with a firm grip and then raised the deer as high as it could hang so the other animals couldn't get to it, then untying the length of rope from her quad and finally the hide. She picked up the golf ball out of the mess and smiled, she didn't golf but it was defiantly one of her favourite sports. Tossing the skin in the bush after the legs she was done for now, she would let the animal cool over night before deboning and wrapping the meat.

Starting the generator inside the shed the lights flickered inside the cabin before becoming a steady orange glow. It was breakfast time. Today, she thought, I deserve bacon.

* * *

><p>It was easy to track the slow paced human back to its home, which he was also grateful for, his leg was still oozing blood out of the poor bandage job he had done using strips of lab coat rinsed in a puddle. His head was still pounding as well, he had left the human bandage job there alone, terrified that if he removed it his brains would come out.<p>

Plus it was cold here and without his shift suit or really even any coverings at all his body was beginning to suffer from it. The only thing he managed to grab in his fleeing was his spear. Where "here" was he couldn't even say but he was free and it needed to stay that way at any cost. Or that meant another test and the next time it was unlikely they would keep him breathing for it. His stomach growled again regardless of the liver he had just ate, free for two earth days and he had barely eaten any more than his captors had fed him. They had kept him weak on purpose and when he finally escaped and had eaten, from an already dead animal to his disgust, only to regurgitate almost immediately.

So when he finally managed to stalk that animal with the antlers that was focused on the females only to have followed it into a soft meats ambush he was only a little pissed off. And by a little it meant he was going to gut the little child maker regardless if it made him a bad blood or not. This was about survival now. However she was interesting, she had killed and gutted the animal with a steady hand, but what really got him interested was when she skinned the animal. It was so... crazy.

This crazy female soft meat used this machine to just rip the skin off, it made him so curious, and would it work on a human? Perhaps he would try it. Maybe on one of those paukers who had captured him. And they would scream through it all. That made him flare his mandibles, what an idea, it gave him an excited chill. So he decided he would watch the human for a while and when she was preoccupied he would cut down the animal and make off with it. Once he was well fed and feeling stronger he would come back to make use of her resources. If he had a medi kit that would happen so much faster, he thought looking at his gimp leg, there was still a bullet in there he needed to remove.

The female had started a machine that generated power and gone inside the building. It looked warm in there, warmer than outside that was for sure, the sun was warming him in his tree outlook but his breath was visible against the chill. His feet and hands were becoming numb so he flexed them trying to make his blood flow to them. It was doing little however, and his thoughts turned toward the fur lined skin of the animal the human had tossed somewhere. On the other side of the clearing. He sighed, he would sneak around the clearing, grab the skin, and return to his tree. Climbing down slowly he hissed quietly at his leg. He landed heavily on the ground, wincing at the thud, so much for being stealthy. He was as clumsy as a youngling. He ran through the trees behind the cabin keeping low to the ground trying to land softly in the dead leaves. What he would give for his sandals, he thought as he stepped on an especially pointy rock, it didn't break the skin but it still hurt. But a loincloth before sandals, his poor boys were freezing down there.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Predator franchise or make profit from my stories.

Lucky for you guys Manitoba is having a little flood problem, so I was off work yesterday and only had a half day today so I got this ready rather quickly.

-Grace-

Desperate Times

Chapter 2

* * *

><p>Turning on the element she placed the frying pan filled with bacon on to cook. Armed with a spatula she watched as it began to sizzle happily. Bacon was on its own a food group.<p>

She had quickly washed her hands and shed a few layers upon entering the cabin still warm from the fire she had started in the morning before her departure. Now clad in her camo pants and a black tank with her brown hair pulled in a tousled pony from her hat. A missed streak of blood trailed her jaw line as though she had tucked her hair back during the messier part of the mourning. Focused on the task of cooking her meal, her mind pleasantly blank, she began to hum a soft tune.

The cabin was simple the way a vacation home should be, the kitchen and living space being one large room separated by an island complete with bar stools, fire place along the far wall with a bear rug stretched out in front, two couches and an armchair sat around the rug with an end table for each. The morning fire still smouldered behind a decorative metal screen. The kitchen was basic but instead of a pantry there was a cold room complete with shining metal door. Various paintings and mounted heads adorn the walls in no particular pattern almost to the likes of some gaudy steak house. Over top of the fireplace mantel hung a caribou head that had been her father's favourite trophy. A bedroom, a study and the bathroom completed the lower portion of the cabin. While upstairs over those rooms was her own, a balcony hung over the living room with a small spiral stair case that led up to it.

As sudden thump outside broke the quiet within her home and mind. It reminded her of the sound of a cleaver hitting flesh. Her eyes snapped up to the window over the kitchen sink but in that spilt second she was miles away relieving the horrors she had seen. She looked down at herself, at the waitressing dress she had worn in the small Vegas cafe, the blue and red checker material was rough against her skin. Her palms were sweaty and the diner was dark. Past closed, meaning it was late near three in the morning, too late to walk by one's self. So she was waiting for her boss, a small balding man of three divorces and a bad gambling habit.

One which had finally caught up with him.

She didn't necessarily hide from the three mob henchmen that had entered through the back door, that could be cowardly, but she stood still in the dark diner behind the swinging metal doors that led to the kitchen area while looking in through the small circular windows. It would have been suicide to try and intervene and tangle with the men who looked like steroid jacked body builders their guns in plain sight under opened jackets.

Vinnie, her boss, was a less than kind hearted man that didn't particularly deserve to be saved. She wasn't a cruel woman by any means but if he had it coming to him, which he obviously did, might as well let the men rough him up a little. He might get smart and stay clean afterwards. Her stepping in could make it much worse. Two bodies found in a diner news story kind of worse. No suspects. No evidence.

What had happen then was a little more than a regular mob beating. Apparently Vinnie was not a very smart man. Owing quite a large sum in gambling debt and to try and pay it back Vinnie in his spare time had gotten himself a gun and robbed a few small time drug dealers. When those dealers reported back to their bosses about being jumped by a man with a likeness to a rat, they had told their bosses above it. In the end it had all gone back to one man who Vinnie happened to owe fifty large in a gambling debt.

That man was Carlos Wagner, crime lord, and he was pissed. In his opinion Vinnie sure did have some balls to steal money from him. Balls that needed to be clipped.

She had watched in growing horror as they threw him on the stainless steel table in the center of the room, two men held his arms while the third armed himself with a cleaver pulled from one of the drawers in the kitchen. And it had started with Vinnie's balls, then his toes, and fingers, and finally his tongue. Her bosses screams echoed off the walls and she prayed someone would hear it and phone the police she wasn't about to risk moving back out into the front of the diner to get to the phone by the register.

She pressed her back against the wall not wanting to watch Vinnie convulse and scream, sounding less like a man and more like a dying rabbit. It was fifteen minutes before they left but it had felt like hours and her former boss Vinnie was face first in the deep fryer along with his severed appendages cooking around him.

The cops had come along with the ambulance, she told them everything that she knew and overheard, and they had told her they would keep her safe. They had tried, moved her into a new apartment complex, had someone check in regularly, but when she had spotted the familiar face of the bald head muscle man that had wielded the cleaver that night driving around the block. She ran. Bought a one way ticket to Canada and left her few possessions she had in her apartment with a note saying "I'll phone you".

In hindsight it would only buy her a little time, Carlos didn't like loose ends and she was a loose end that could testify. He would only need to ask for a background check from a dirty cop to find out her parents had left her a few pieces of property plus enough money to not have to work ever again.

The cabin was the farthest distance from Vegas and easily the most defensible, but in the end she knew that they would come and there would be little to stop them. Running had no appeal, so she would make a stand and likely die like Vinnie, coming to terms with that decision however was another thing. She wasn't scared, didn't really have a reason to be, with no family of friends the mob couldn't hurt her anymore then dead. She also had an opportunity to take a few with her and you never know it could be fun. She could easily hunt them in the woods, she had played in the trees as a child and knew them well, and she had about twenty five bear traps in the shed she planned on setting after lunch.

Finally done reliving her past she returned to the bacon poking the greasy strips with her spatula just in time to hear the rumble of a diesel engine coming down the trail to the cabin. She quickly opened the window over the sink, pushing the brown curtains out of the way, as her escape route if necessary. Then picking a knife out of the block on the counter she walked to her pack still on the couch yet to make it to her room and pulled out her compact 45 calibre Smith and Wesson, checked the thumb safety and rounds, and tucked in to her waistband at the small of her back. Then prepared to welcome her visitor.

* * *

><p>He looked up from his task of scraping the fat from the animals hide, in attempts to clean it up as much as possible before having to wear it, wondering what that smell was. It smelled... delicious. Huffing a big breath through his mouth to get a better smell of it he realized it was coming from the house. His stomach whined and he glanced down at his midsection as if to silence it only to pause and trail his claws lightly over the partially healed incisions there. Using one of his few still sharp and unbroken claws he picked out one of the many metal staples holding him together. A trickle of green fell from the place he had plucked it from. He wanted to pull them all out, but with little food his body wasn't healing at his normal rate, he had to wait. Meanwhile the smell was only getting worse and more tempting. He took low and shallow breaths trying to complete the task at hand. He really didn't want to charge in there in his current state to get killed by some bush woman.<p>

Growing impatient he cut the hide into what he thought would work and with not having any string or wire he would have to do his best to tie it in place. Vola a loincloth! Trying to ignore the imaginary laughter he kept working turning the animal's legs skin into a sort of sleeve for his feet and wrists. The rest was mostly a left over scrap he simply tied around his neck as a sort of mockery of a cape. He tried not to think of what he must look like, it wasn't exactly a moment for vanity.

His stomach growled almost violently. That smell was driving him crazy. He stood quickly from where he had knelt behind some cover. Too fast, he fell back to his knees, clutching his head. It was spinning hard and he could feel bile rising in his throat. He had pushed himself too far again. He wasn't used to feeling so weak. Quickly he swallowed down the urge to vomit. Squeezing his eyes closed he tried to focus himself against the nausea, his claws digging in to the soil and snow.

A rumbling reached his ears, he recognized it as the engine of a human machine and pressed himself lower to the ground still trying to gain control of his throbbing temples. A slam signalled the human exiting the vehicle and quickly he peaked over the small shrubs he was hiding behind. He felt the panic rising in him. His heart pounding and every inch of his body stiffened as he watched the man known as Eric approach the front of the cabin, climbing the stairs to the porch, and then banging on the entrance way. Did they know that he was here? They mustn't or they would have sent a lot more than Eric to come retrieve him. The woman answered the door with a blade in hand. Smart female, he thought, he had first hand seen the cruelty that was in the man's eyes. They engaged in conversation and he decided now would be the best time to move farther away from one of his former captors.

Slinking back into the woods keeping low to the ground he circle back around the cabin where he would be less likely to be spotted. He was just about to take off into the woods when it hit him, that smell, pauk it smelt good. His belly rumbled back agreeing to the thought. It would be foolish to expose himself but it was though he under a spell, he turned back towards the cabin , eagerly tasting and smelling the air all at once looking for the source. The open window just made it too easy.

* * *

><p>She opened the door knife in hand completely visible, she wasn't going to waste any time pulling it from behind her back or anything like that. He hopefully wasn't expecting an armed woman to answer the door so if he made a move on her she would have the upper hand. The man did jump at the knife when she opened the door, he was thirty or so with short brown hair wearing a black jacket with a company insignia on the right breast partners with black slack and black shoes. She almost expected him to hand her some flyers or try to sell her an alarm system.<p>

"Hi, Whitney? Whitney Thompson? My names Eric, did I interrupt your morning?" She started at the fact he knew her name, immediately distrustful of him.

"No, I was just cooking breakfast." Gesturing at him with the knife, "That was the other part of my morning there." Using the knife again to gesture at the hanging buck.

"That's a nice buck, it's got a big rack don't it?" Eric laughed at his crude joke but she didn't even spare him a quick smiled. Realizing she didn't share his sense of humour the man awkwardly cleared his throat before continuing. " Well the reason I stopped in was to just inform you that there have been a few cougar sighting in the area and we just wanted to keep everyone safe and get people our phone numbers so if you see anything we could come and take care of it. Cougars are quite dangerous to people and their pets, have you seen a cougar before Whitney?"

Deciding to treat the man like the idiot he was to get him off her property as soon as possible she sourly replied, "Yes, yes I have. Have you Eric?"

He was surprised at her sudden hostility. "Of course I have." She knew that he hadn't.

Cutting him off before he could say anything else, "Listen Eric, cougar or not I don't see how some slack wearing desk jockey from," Purposely looking at the insignia on his jacket and then the matching one on the side of his white half tons paneling, "Weyland Industries, is on my front porch talking about an animal he's only see Google uploads on instead of a Natural Resource Officer or a Park Ranger?" His mouth opened stupidly then closed. She could read the anger on his face like a big open book. Bringing the knife up to clean the dirt out from under her fingernails she dismissed him curtly. "Why don't you get off my property Eric from Weyland."

Smiling coldly Eric took a business card from his pocket and slid it into the door frame. "Hope you get eaten." Was his parting remark before he turned and walked back towards his idling truck. Whitney couldn't help but to be petty and get the last word in. Besides he was an ass to insult her on her own property.

"Hey, Eric," He stopped half way in to his truck with one foot on the running board and one on the ground, "Might want to pick up an orange hat, lots of hunting accidents round these parts." Flashing him a toothy white smile before closing the door to whatever remark Eric would send back. Asshat. Figuring her bacon to be burnt she walked back to the stove.

Cougar my ass, she thought, cougars don't come in through windows and steal bacon, frying pan included.

* * *

><p>Victory was sweet he decided. This meat was worth the risk, crispy yet chewy and salty all through. He was unashamed of crouching in his tree purring like he was in heat as he ate the heavenly strips from the human's metal cooking pan. Only after he had licked the pan clean of grease did he stop. Hanging the cooking tool from a branch he went back to surveying the human's domain.<p>

Eric had left rather quickly and he appeared quite upset. He chuckled towards the end of their conversation when both tones had become rude. He was starting to like this Child maker, Weeetnay ooomass or something. She was _hulij-bpe _to be talking to Eric like that.

Settling his back against the thick trunk of the tree he got somewhere close to comfy. He would watch for now and if he could get a few meals out of it all the better.

* * *

><p>Translation<p>

_Hulij-bpe_ - Crazy


	3. Chapter 3

Desperate Times

Chapter 3

* * *

><p>Whitney decided she really didn't need this new distraction. She was already in deep shit now there was something in the woods, something that was most definitely not a cougar. It was hungry as well and possibly hurt. She looked at the glowing green streaks left on her window sill and counter, not wanting to touch them but knowing she had to clean it up. Sighing she grabbed a tea towel and wiped the mess up wondering if it might be radioactive. Pulling a carton of eggs out of the fridge along with another frying pan she went back to trying to feed herself.<p>

Although the not as satisfying as bacon could have been she was full not long after. Sitting at the Island on a bar stool her mind wandered back to the green fluid she had cleaned up. It had been glowing and had continued to glow on the tea towel that was now in the trash.

Whatever was out there wasn't human whether or not it had been at one point or not.

Weyland Industries had something to do with it. They were involved because no way would it be coincidence that they would manage to find out from the three people who knew she was in town (and if they found her that easily who else might?) And come to warn her about dangerous animals in less than twenty four hours of her arrival unless they were really pounding ground. Searching for it, which also didn't make sense, Weyland was a company involved with property and technology not environmental things. Unless they just tried their hands at biological warfare. Or on the other hand it could be an alien, she herself wasn't a believer, but the idea wasn't completely unreasonable. There was that town in Colorado a few years back that exploded and a lot of people were still sceptical on the vague reports that the press released.

She didn't have time for this. She needed to keep herself safe and prepare for her own issues. Not feed some angry, dangerous thing in the bushes that was probably looking to eat her instead. But she was going to, pulling a side of beef ribs and three sausage rings out of the cold room, her logic being if it was too full maybe it wouldn't eat her. For a person that had accepted that they were going to die she was doing a lot to not die, Whitney thought bitterly.

Now the important question, should she season the ribs?

* * *

><p>He woke to the sensation of falling; starting awake he grabbed the branch he was still sitting on so hard he heard it groan from the pressure. Relearning how to breathe he slowly relaxed his grip on the tree.<p>

He hated those dreams. Dreams of falling. They had been happening regularly for the past two months of his captivity but in there he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or he had just been given another injection. Or breathing in the gases they liked to pump into his cell but by the time you realized it you would be collapsing, falling, limp to the ground. He calmed himself with the knowledge that he was no longer in that place by the feel of the course bark in his hands. The suns light warming him much unlike the harsh unnatural lights he had become accustom to.

He had to go back though, he wished he didn't, he was no longer the warrior that he had been. He would have preferred to have managed to activate his wrist console and have gone to Cetanu with his _yin'tekai_. Now he was left here with his shame.

He had given up in that place, turned his back on his gods and his people. Watched his _mei'hswei _die. That's who he had failed.

_Thei-de N'ritja_ had been a better hunting partner than any of his true clan brothers. He remembered this first time they met on_Thei-de N'ritja_ clan's ship when he had been traveling with a small group of his own clan mates. They had been refuelling their ship and he had taken the time to explore a little. He had tried to fight _Thei-de N'ritja, _mostly because he had a female's name, when he had been introduced to him by another. _Thei-de N'ritja_ had laughed in his face good naturedly and told him he could fight him if he pleased as long as they would drink together after. Turned out _Thei-de N'ritja_ had been named most appropriately, his form was flawless and fast, and he moved with an art that was most dance-like. He hadn't even managed to get a hit in before he had found himself on his back beaten. But he couldn't hate _Thei-de N'ritja_, especially not after drinking a bottle of _c'nlip_ with him. His clan was just so serious about everything, stiff and ridged with both the hunt and socializing. _Thei-de N'ritja_ was entirely opposite full of jokes and stories. It was refreshing and he had found himself enthralled. So when _Thei-de N'ritja_ had invited him to go hunt with him he had agreed without a second thought.

He missed his brother and was ashamed of failing him. Letting those monsters take him apart bit by bit with their shining tools and jars they put everything that he was inside. That was the only reason he hadn't killed himself yet. He needed to redeem his _mei'hswei's_ honour and take his body back from the humans. Then he would blow that place to Paya and back to bring _Thei-de N'ritja _and him to their _u'sl-kwe_**. **That he had promised.

* * *

><p>It was eerily quiet near the cottage today she decided. No chirping birds, no chattering of squirrels and the silence was oddly refreshing in the woods. Just the sound of the wind and the trees that moved with it. She moved with what stealth she had as she set the bear traps around her vicinity.<p>

Stepping on the leavers on either side of the trap she used her fingers, protected by a set of thick gloves, to pry the blunt but damaging toothed contraption open like the mouth of monster. Pushing hard against the tightly coiled springs she then lifted the dog, a small bit of metal that acts like a trigger for the mechanism, and set it under the now raised pan that lay in the center. She pulled her hands back out of the traps reach to see if the dog would hold the traps pressured springs from snapping forward. Traps are generally of little danger of their setters but accidents do happen and these trap springs she had tightened not with intention to hold a struggling animal anymore but to main and snap bone.

The trap held and she then gently sprinkled some of the leaves nearby on top to camouflage.

Setting traps could either be a really good idea or a really bad idea, she had originally thought, it all depended on what got caught in them. Either an angry hit man who was human or an angry green bleeding "whatever it might be" that was possibly still out there. She had opted for, simply because she was curious to see what would happen whether she caught option A or option B. Picking up the chain lengths of her remaining traps and the bag of spike accompanied by a small mallet she used to secure them to the ground she continued on her way.

Fifteen down only nine to go.

* * *

><p>He had snuck down his tree, spear in hand, with little incident to figure out what the human was doing. He had been watching for a bit, with little success, trying to spot it inside the cottage. That led to the possibility that it was unmoving inside its dwellings or the more unnerving aspect that it had come outside when he had been sleeping. He was hoping the former.<p>

There was also another tantalizing aroma on the breeze. Lingering, almost as though trying to bait him out of his hiding. Quietly he slunk to the side of the house looking around and testing the air, attempting to scent out the aroma of the female that he had acquired while stealing her food. There she was. Downwind of him by the path that Eric had come down in his machine. That settled him slightly knowing it was unlikely she was lying in wait of him, her scent was too weak to be close by.

Now for that other smell.

It rose from the heated silver dome on legs that had obviously been pulled out of the small noisy building besides wood house. It had a handle on the top of it. Compressing his spear and slinging it on his back, he then gently grasped the lid and lifted, under the lid lay a half cooked delicious smelling rack of ribs. Good thing he was still hungry.

Lying on the ground besides the silver oven stand was a bottle. Curious, he took a second to figure that it was a twist off cap instead of a pop off he was used too, sniffing cautiously at the rim of the glass bottle. He then stuck a finger into the reddish-brown liquid inside. Tasting it with his tongue slowly he smiled. Thank Paya for this child maker.

Sauce in one hand meat in the other he made his way back to his tree excited for another scavenged meal. Quickly smelling the air through his mouth he realized that the female, and current provider, was coming this way. Moving with intent now he bounded to the base of his tree. Slinging the meat onto his shoulder and gripping the bottle with his mandibles he began to quickly and quietly scale the tree. Digging his foot claws into the bark for support he reached from one branch to another hefting his weight up with little difficulty.

Snap. The rotten branch in his right hand suddenly broke off clean from its base. Holding onto it with his one hand, his left gripped the tree desperately, he flexed his feet trying to dig his claws in the bark. He could feel the slick meat on his shoulder beginning to slip. He was about half way up; almost twenty-five feet from the ground, dropping the branch would not go unnoticed. It would be loud and the human was drawing near. However it was his cover or his meal. Making his choice he let go of the branch and climbed as fast as could.

Looking back as the branch finally smacked the ground with a loud thunk he almost fell in shock as a toothed trap snapped up from the impact. Completely hidden in the foliage the branch had fallen right into the trap, its toothed jaws crushed the branch in two, spraying a small shrapnel of splinters into the air. The metallic twang of the springs followed by the sound of the wood being snapped hit his ears seconds after watching it occur. His eyes widened, that had been set there while he slept, right under his tree. The human knew he was here. Had too, he had entered her home, but she knew he was in this tree. She had set a trap for him and he had been walking through it like a blind fool. That trap could have broken his leg!

Crunching and the smell of sweat alerted him of the human's presence. Scrambling up the rest of the tree he hid in what leaves were left on the branches and not lying on the ground. He needed more cover than this, a large spruce tree ten feet away would do, its green needle laden branches would be impossible to see him through.

Standing precariously he tried to judge the jump and at what angle would be best. He was running out of time, he could smell the sweat and meat from the human on the wind, a little ways down the spruce there was a break in the branches. Aiming for it, meat in one hand, sauce in his mandibles and spear across his back, he leapt. This was going to sting.

* * *

><p>She had heard her trap snap closed on her way back to the cottage. It had surprised her at first then realising what had made that sound it took all her will power not to run with her knife in hand to see what she had caught. Walking calmly with her bag over her shoulder she breathed deeply. The anticipation had her heart racing against her ribs. As she drew near she pulled her knife from its sheath and set the bag of spikes lightly on the ground. Suddenly wishing she also had her pistol with her as well she realized how under prepared she was. Rounding the few trees that stood in the way she looked in the small space she had set this particular trap in. Well, at least something had set it off and not the wind, looking at the branch that lay in pieces around the closed metal jaws.<p>

Peering up into the trees against the bright afternoon sun she look for were the branch had fallen from. About half way up a bare and rather rough looking scratched up ash was the fresh wound in its bark. It sure didn't look like it had fallen on its own. It appeared as though someone had pulled downwards, hard, and broke it off.

There was something in the tree near the top, glinting in the sun. It was her frying pan. She snorted quietly. Knowing whatever had broken the branch as well as hung her frying pan up in the tree was long gone with all the noise she had made. The trunk looked like someone had taken a blade to it, with numerous punctures and deep furrows down the bark. She ran her hand lightly over the claw marks before heading back towards the cabin. She paused only for a moment to give the deep claw marks a second nervous glance.

When she cleared the trees she immediately saw her pillaged empty barbeque still smoking besides the cottage. Hell, it even took the goddamn BBQ sauce with it. Now she was becoming paranoid, she thought, as she gazed up at the tree. This thing was using her, watching her every move, moving around her home without her even catching a glimpse of it. She could use that kind of skill helping her.

The sun was beginning to set. The days becoming shorter and shorter as winter continued. Tonight was going to be cold, the coldest night so far dropping down to minus thirteen degrees. She was going to have a bonfire tonight as she had planned and see if her little thief wanted to come out show itself.

* * *

><p>He couldn't believe he had made a clean get away. How that human didn't hear him smack face first into the thick trunk was beyond him. Maybe it just sounded so loud because it was his head that hit the tree. He had dug all four sets of claws deep into the brittle bark until he hit the soft insides with his vision blurring and pain sprouting from under his dirty bandages.<p>

Clinging for his life he listened to the female shuffle about beneath him. He could feel his over worked claws beginning to peel back from his skin. Eventually the human moved on and a breath he hadn't realized he was holding rushed out in a cloud of hot condensation. The warm beads of water tickling his mandibles.

He had eaten quickly, savouring, but not wasting any time. The meat bleeding down his chin and into his hands, slopping the dense brown sauce on generously. After he had stripped the thin almost uniform bones of the meat he cracked them open in his hands to get at what little marrow was inside. For the first time in two earth months he felt full. The queasy feeling of having his stomach stretching to hold all the red meat was worth the sensation of his body using those nutrients to begin the slow process of healing his broken body. Tomorrow he would be in much better shape and that much closer to avenging his brother. This is if he didn't freeze overnight.

It was already growing colder and night was going to be coming soon. He needed to find a way to keep himself warm. With his shift suit he would be able to stay heated in conditions beyond freezing, but without it... By nature his kind were better suited for hot climates like Home planet. At the peak of the heat at Home planet even he found it uncomfortably hot, your skin getting tight and itchy from the moisture being sucked out. However without his shift suit he wasn't as durable to the cold as he would like to be. First his skin would become brittle and split open into wounds, not long after he would begin surrendering to the cold.

Sighing he began to fall toward the idea that maybe the human would have to be his saviour. The female would see a fire like a huge beacon in the night, a shelter was better but in his already atrocious condition there was no guarantee it would be enough to keep him warm enough. Plus to build a shelter he would no doubt draw attention to himself whether it be with noise building it but it also had to be large enough to fit him.

Wheetnay Ooomass, she didn't contact Eric, is she had there would have been thirty men and a chopper before he could think of running. She knew he was here but didn't sick the hounds on him, it was interesting. What could the little huntress want? A fight maybe but what would be the point? She might want his head for a trophy and in that case at least he could relate. Trophy's represented wealth to his kind and he would rather be treated with value then being analyze and autopsied. This human was the lesser evil then dying in the cold or going back to the town to get captured. Anything before getting caught again, even his pride. If she wanted a fight he would give her one.

* * *

><p>She started the bonfire in the rock encircled pit in the yard. The flaming newspaper started the dry wood up easily. The fire soothed her, the smell of smoke and crackling sounds filling the air, only pleasant memories came to the front of her mind as she stared into the orange heat. Helping her father gather kindling on a camping trip, marshmallows, her mother laughing as her father presented her the badly burnt hotdogs he had attempting to cook. She watched the light dance feeling hypnotised as she felt its warmth wrap around her front gently. Embracing her from the cold as her mother and father would if they had been alive. It hadn't been the fire that had killed them.<p>

Placing the steel grate she had grabbed out of the shed onto of the rocks edges over the fire she turned and walked briskly back to the cabins porch not letting the tears that had been waiting for nearly three years spill over her eyelashes. They could wait another three as far as she was concerned.

Back inside the cabin she started to unpack what belongings she had managed fit in a duffle bag. Basic clothing, a picture frame she placed face down on a coffee table, a small box of personal items that had been rescued from the fire, a brand new cell phone, her 45 cal's holster, and a few boxes of ammo. Placing the cell phone on the island counter along with the gun and ammo, she then began to rifle through the clothing she had hastily thrown inside. A chequered pattern caught her eyes, her diner dress, she must have accidently thrown it in out of a drawer.

She didn't need money when she had taken that job. Only a distraction from what life had become without the light of her family. Distant disinterest was what she had become to see as life, living in shade of greys, hoping from job to job, working only as long as it could prove entertaining. The waitressing had proven amusing with the late hours and unpredictable customers in the poorer part of Vegas.

Now life was taking color again. Being up at the old cabin, life full of dangers and mystery, it was reawakening her. A small smile skittered quickly across her lips as she threw her chequered past into the garbage can alongside a still glowing soiled dish cloth.

Speaking of the little thief it was steadily growing dimmer outside and her bonfire would be hot embers, perfect to cook sausages on. Bringing nothing but her knife and the three sausage rings she had taken out earlier, she made her way out to the fire pit. The fire was smoldering red hot embers with licks of orange flames dancing in the charcoals and fresh wood. She set the sausages on top of the grate protecting the fire beneath it to cook. She had rolled two large chopping stumps from behind the shed where the wood pile along with its blue tarp to use as chairs. Both as thick as her middle and coming up to her knees they were both aged shades of grey and sat well on the uneven ground. Her stool was placed so her back was to her cabin so she could look into the woods with her quests directly across the pit.

Sitting down on the rough stump she had claimed she looked out into the woods in the direction the trap had been set off earlier. The only weapon she had brought out with her was her hunting knife so she wouldn't appear as a threat however she had set her compound bow at the door of the cabin arrow already nocked and ready.

She took out her knife now and spun it in her palms, it had been her eighteenth birthday present, a symbol of her new independence and strength. It was a simple silver blade being five inches long and its grip black and ridged with a slightly worn look from use. The only embellishment on the blade was her initials engraved onto one side of the blade in a sweeping elegant font. She watched the warm orange glow glint of the blade in the night highlighting the curvature and it's still sharp edge. Three weeks after she had been given the blade she had used it to stab a man who attacked her in an alleyway. Her assailant survived the minor wound but she had suspicions that he wasn't so lucky when he had encountered her father once he had gotten out of the hospital. Nobody touches a merchs babygirl and gets away with it and if it hadn't been her father it would have been the half a dozen well-muscled and dangerous men she had called uncles all her life. She would have called her uncles now if any of them had still been alive, but as she now knew quite well, life isn't that kind. They all had chosen a dangerous lifestyle and each of them had paid for it with their humanity and eventually their lives. Even her father.

She heard before she saw, the soft rustling of snow and leaves as something moved with amazing stealth around the clearing just out of sight. Drawing in a deep breath of chilled air she held it in her lungs and strained her ears. She could hear the rope hanging her now stiff buck creak with the soft wind, the sound of the generator from within the shed, the wood burning in the pit, and underneath all of that was the sound was something moving. Goosebumps formed underneath her layers and parka not from the cold but from the eyes she could feel upon her. The forest around her was dark, the firelight only illuminating the first row of trees and it almost looked like there was a wall of black nothingness beyond those trees. As thought her little clearing was the only thing in existence of the universe. Her gaze was drawn to the tress across from her as though she could see the intense eyes that were watching her every movement. Standing slowly she put both arm in the air turning in a circle slowly, then she tossed her knife smoothly into the ground to her right burying it to the hilt in the dirt. It was only five feet away so if she needed to defend herself it would be accessible.

The noise that came from the darkness was like something from a sci-fi monster flick. It was a wet rasping of a harsh breath accompanied by a fast clicking growl that echoed through the trees. It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. Then after a moment's pause there was the sound of something being thrown and she instinctively ducked as the solid thunk of the object striking the hard ground. No pain followed the noise though and she straightened to see what had been tossed. It was a spear large and detailed, at its widest around 6 inches in diameter then slowly tapering down thinner and thinner into a point. A leather strap decorated with feathers and a small animal skull hung down from the two second largest segments. It wobbled back and forth from the force that it had been thrown with and it had landed right next to her hunting knife with scary precision.

The rasping clicks were louder this time almost as to trill a warning to her, she turned back to the spot where the spear had been thrown only in time to see the monster come lumbering out of the darkness.

It spread its muscular arms wide and screamed at her for all its worth sounding like a bald eagle crossed with a lion. She flinched back completely unprepared for its raw human but at the same time inhuman appearance. It looked like a large bodybuilder frame wise but it was anything but, it face was most striking and it would almost seem like it head was disproportional to its body, with its large sloped forehead and think black tubes framing it like hair. It had a thick brow with shining yellow eyes beneath it that caught the firelight and appeared to glow in rage. It had no mouth but instead large mandibles that were spread wide and ominously around a wet hole that was is esophagus where the loud shrieking emerged. Even more disturbing than its appearance was the beings condition. Its natural coloring was impossible to determine as almost all its body was covered in either glowing green or dark red blood, some dried and some fresh, dribbling from various areas. Its sex was covered by makeshift clothing made from deer hide, probably the one she had thrown into the bush earlier in the day and it had a dirty and blood soaked bandage wrapped around its forehead but beside that it was nude. It most disturbing wound was uncovered on its toned torso in a thick Y shaped wound held together by surgical staples like an autopsied cadaver in a morgue. Beginning at both shoulders to meet in the middle of its chest and travel down past its loincloth. Other smaller cuts and bruises covered its body along with two of its tube like hairs missing from the right of his head, the stumps looking painful and swollen.

It roared again this time arching its back and face to the sky and lifting its arms high, legs spread wide in a fighting stance, challenging her. She stumbled back into her log tipping it over and falling on her ass to her ground in fear her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't tear her eyes away from its face with its haunting yellow gaze full of challenge and hate. Accusing her of something, like its wounds were her fault, this thing hated her. Her looking in his eyes seemed to agitate it further and it growled and clicked it annoyance.

She tore her gaze to the fire and the sausages cooking on the grate. She realized now how bad her idea was, that this thing would not be her saviour against the mob men but was actually a greater evil. If it showed her mercy after what her fellow humans had done to it she would be surprised. The growling and clicking quieted from across the fire and she tipped her log back over slowly and sat down quietly, her eyes at the creatures feet, doing her best to look as unthreatening as possible. Being meek wasn't her nature but there comes a time for every card in ones hand to be played and little did this thing know she had a whole deck.

* * *

><p>Translations<p>

_Yin'tekai_ - Honor

_Thei-de N'ritja_ - Death Dance

_C'lnip_ - Alcoholic Beverage

_U'sl-kwe_ - Final Rest


	4. Chapter 4

Desperate Times

Chapter 4

* * *

><p>He was perched silently on one of the pines larger branches with his arms hanging in between his legs and his talons gripping the wood, keeping him steady in the quiet wind. The orange glow in the clearing enticed him with its alluring appearance of warmth and comfort but also danger as his keen eyes watched the silver flash of the human's blade. He shifted slightly trying to ease his tights skins discomfort. The cold air hurt his lungs and he could feel his heart pumping hard in his chest as it tried to keep him warm. His hands and feet were now thoroughly numb from his own blood circulation concentrating on his torso more than his extremities.<p>

He slowly curled his fingers into a fist and hissed as the skin on his joints split, the small scales brittle and unable to stretch with the flexing muscle and bone. He didn't bother to look at his new wounds leaving his arms hanging in submission to the chill as his life blood dripped onto the forest floor below. He was tired, tired of hiding and running and bleeding. He looked up into the night sky suddenly wishing his clan would come for him but he had turned his back on them when he left with _Thei-de n'ritja_, and they wouldn't be missing him anytime soon. He was alone on this planet and he could feel the panic rising in his throat for the first time since he was a pup. He shook his head violently letting out a small growl, he had been a warrior before all this misfortune and that was what he needed to reclaim.

Looking back at the warm glow in the clearing he made his decision and began to take action leaving the panic behind as he leapt from the tree and to the ground quickly. He flared his mandibles at the pain as more of his skin split open knowing it would not begin to heal until he warmed himself. Unstrapping his _ki'cti-pa _from his back he extended it too its full length then began to circle the clearing looking for the best point of attack. The human knew he was here watching it, he could smell her nervousness and sweat and it was pungent against the cold crisp air.

Suddenly the female stood and he quickly stopped to watch its actions from across the fire. She stood and spread her arms wide, she did it in a mannerism that appeared unthreatening but coupled with the fact that it was signifying a challenge to him, the stance welcoming him to a fight. Then with a swift toss she threw her blade to the ground nearby also challenging him with the fact that she didn't believe she needed a weapon to beat him. What a foolish human he was easily twice her weight and much taller, this would be an easy win. He paused though, she was acting with such confidence and he could smell that she was not afraid of the prospect of losing, only nervousness with a hint of excitement. A rattling growl escaped him and he scolded himself for the thought the human could beat him in hand-to-hand combat, however a second idea suddenly whispered through his thoughts.

Why not simply impale her with his spear from the safe darkness of the trees?

Why not? Because it was a dishonourable and badblood thing to do! Not only ignoring a challenge but also being a coward about it. No, he was neither a badblood nor a coward there forth he would accept the females challenge. He tossed his spear before he could reconsider with precision to land next to the females blade and then stepped in to the clearing with a few imposing growls before spreading his own arms into a stance and roaring his acceptance and readiness to battle. He felt the humans pulse elevate from across the fire and the sour scent of fear filled the air.

The human remained were she stood not approaching him to fight so he arched his back to the sky and roared louder making sure she understood he was ready. Obviously the female didn't know what she was doing and the human toppled back over her stool in fear and cowered on the ground before him and he puffed his chest out to intimidate her further, filling his eyes with anger and hate. She continued to hold his gaze however and that irritated him, if she wasn't going to fight then she had no right to look him in the face. Finally she looked away and focused on the fire where three meat rings sizzled. Those were his now.

The human righted her chair and sat like a good pup both submissive and small in stature, she flinched visibly as he stepped closer and he hissed at her enjoying the feeling of power as she shirked back from the noise. Grabbing a ring off the grate, his hand heating up deliciously as it passed over the fire, and he began to eat the human's meal in front of her. His body agreeing with both the heat and the nutrients, he could feel his numb limbs tingling from the sensation and his blood beginning to clot around the minor leaking wounds.

The human's quick pulse was starting to slow and he could feel her eyes wandering over him and he quickly growled at her and grabbed another meat ring from the fire as soon as the first was done. She was still looking at him though becoming braver thinking he was occupied with his earned meal, watching the way his mandibles worked the food into his mouth before clenching them tightly closed so none fell out. The second ring was finish as quickly as the first, he leaned forward and snagged the third and began the tear into it as well, but instead of finishing it he tossed the small hunk he had left at the female, she had been feeding him all day. Catching it from the air she then quietly ate her portion before eyeing him with a serious glint in her eyes. She slowly said a sentence to him putting more enunciation on the words than necessary as though he was a child, something about medicine inside her home for his wounds, then stood up and began walking toward the structure.

Yes his wounds needed to be tended to but not before he made the fact that she wasn't to get any ideas of harming him or calling Weyland perfectly clear. He moved fast and the human let out a high squeal as he closed his hand around her small throat and held her in the air at his eye level. Her feet kick at his knees and her small hands grabbed and clawed at his much larger arm, eyes wide and full of fear so thick he could taste it on his tongue. Growling at her harshly and shaking her once to still her struggles he then looked into her eyes attempting to convoy his thoughts through them. You will remain alive as long as you are useful. I am stronger, I will kill you. You are weak, you will submit to me. She looked away from his eyes and whimpered and that was enough for him to believe she got the message.

It felt good, so good, being feared again. Being respected and not being clinically defiled by her kind, to have it as it should be, to have them weak and whimpering pitifully in his grasp. His chest swelled again and he trilled ominously at her then, before he could think otherwise, using his free hand he bared her pare shoulder of the covers she wore and bite her lightly. Not enough to brand to female as his own but enough to break skin and show his dominance over her. Shaking her once more he then dropped her unceremoniously to the ground the human's legs buckling underneath her. She glared up at him in annoyance as she held a hand against his mark that was only slightly bleeding. At the sight of a female on the ground before him, lying there marked and bleeding, he felt something else swell. Clicking quickly he banished that trail of thought with ease simply because humans were fairly disgusting creatures in both looks and traits. Grabbing the weak thing by its forearm he hauled her up onto her feet and gave her a push towards the building.

It was hot inside and that alone made him trill in content as the warmth flowed over his skin and into his organs, the bonfire had been glorious but this was divine. A warm fire was cracking in a hearth across the room and spread before it was a fur that almost resembled one of his favourite bedding furs with its glossy black appearance. He wanted to go curl into the silky fur and have a long natural sleep in front of the searing fire while his body healed.

Human homes, he found, were always cluttered with so many little trinkets and bobbles lying about and this dwelling was no different. It gave him an alien and slightly claustrophobic feeling, almost as though someone had tried to fill the too small building with all the objects and memories they possessed leaving the building budging with a thick rich smell and eyesores from too much intricate detail. The only thing that seemed even remotely similar between his kind's dwellings and this human's was the numerous trophy heads adorning the wall. At first glance to an untrained eye they would appear terribly unorganized, each one fighting for their own wall space, but as he gave them a quick study he decided there was pattern to the hangings. What it was however he could not decipher but he found his eyes wandering along them toward what was obviously the human's most esteemed kill hanging in its place of pride over the mantel piece. Like many of the other heads hung it had been treated to keep its fur and appearance as though still alive, for what purpose he didn't know, but it was grazing creature not unlike the ones he had been stalking earlier except much larger. Its sweeping antlers protruding from the top of animal's skull then branching into different directions giving the animal the appearance of being large but without the body it would be hard to say how big. However it was an impressive trophy for a human, especially a female human, and he found himself admiring it.

The sound of the female opening drawers startled him from his observing and he quickly prepared for a weapon of some sort to appear in her clawless hands. Instead she slid the compartment back and continued her search in another, rifling around in them looking for something. Not finding it in the main room she began to move farther back into her dwelling and into a room out of his sight. It made him nervous not being able to see her and he tentatively began to follow, but the shining black of a weapon made him pause.

Laid out on the counter top of a table centered in the room was a human gun, small and sleek he knew perfectly well what it felt like to be on the business end of their weapons. Generally it wouldn't have fazed him because the small one handed human weapons couldn't pierce his thick scaled hide while the larger two handed weapons packed a bigger punch. However this one instantly reminded him of the small black guns his captors had used, theirs didn't shoot hot metal though instead they shot small tranquilizer darts. Human medicine was primitive and there had been a few attempts on other Hunters to capture them using drugs but his kind's metabolism worked too fast, burning it out of their systems before it could even make the hunters dizzy. He wasn't as lucky, apparently the human had created a new tranquilizer with the Yautya in mind with it being more potent and fast acting and although it only put him under for about ten minutes it was all they needed to get him restrained.

It didn't matter if the female's gun was the conventional kind of human weapons he didn't want her having access to it, the wounds on his chest were only partially healed and the surrounding skin still weak so even if it was a regular gun it might be able kill him. Raising a tightly clenched fist he brought it down three times on the weapon in quick succession bending the metal and crushing it into the wooden table making the gun inoperable. The loud crunching of wood and metal brought the human back into the main room with an angry cry and eyes wide, a metal tin clutched in her small hands.

She looked at what was left at the pistol and then at him with a scowl set firmly on her face but she didn't say anything. She set the metal tin on the countertop and opened it showing him the human bandages and medicine within. Scoffing harshly he couldn't help but to look at the limited and primitive supplies in her less than useful first aid kit. They would do little to help but it was better than nothing at all, he guessed.

* * *

><p>Whitney was angry, a little scared, but mostly angry. She fed this fucking thing for a day and will probably have to continue for as long as it stayed, then it bite her (not hard but she didn't know what kind of pathogens this thing could carry, what if it has rabies?), then he crushed her gun with his fist! She was mad; she was bleeding and mad in her kitchen staring at an eight foot tall monster who had just decimated her father's gun that had been her best bet at protecting herself against angry mobsters and she didn't think this asshole was going to help her any. He had his own agenda and it went something like heal me human bitch so I can leave you to die in this forest alone. She was mad because if she gave in to her uncertainties and her lingering doubts she would be accepting defeat, her helplessness against the onslaught of dangers happening. She couldn't, she wouldn't be doing that. She had to be strong because it would be what her family would want to see and anything less was disrespect to their memories. Steeling her face into an impassive frown she took control, looking at the monsters damage once more then taking action.<p>

"You're a mess and you're bleeding everywhere, I need to clean it up before I can figure out what wounds are worse than others." She said hoping to sound both confident and in control. If he understood her she couldn't tell with the way he indifferently stared at her the only recognition in his eyes was that she was in front of him making noise. Shrugging of her parka, tired of its weight, she tossed it over the back of the couch where her meagre pile of belongings had been placed. Crab face regarded her new bareness with a sound half between scoff and a retching noise when he looked at her black tank. Ignoring his rude scoff she turned and grabbed and tea towel and the bottle of peroxide out of her metal kit.

"Sit down on a stool and I'll try to clean you up."

Again there was no response either in word or action and silence filled the space in between them. There was an awkward tension that happened between them with the sudden ridiculousness of the situation. She shook the tension off, then unscrewing the white cap she poured some on the tea towel, nose wrinkling at the smell. She held both hands up and started to step forward to begin wiping the blood off. He had been ignoring her, looking at all the jumbling wall mounts with an intense interest, but as she drew closer he wiped his head back to her direction with a clicking growl. His black tendrils swung with the sharp movement and he, for a split second, reminded her of a movie she had seen once.

It had been about these three women with guns and attitude who ran around kicking ass for a man named Charlie. See whenever the women wanted attention or a distraction or had just finished beating the snot out of someone they swung the luscious tresses around their face while looking wanton or enticing. However he wasn't looking very wanton or enticing with the swinging black tubes whipping in front of his eyes and spread mandibles where another guttural clicking noise emerged. He was not okay with her at all.

"Calm down Angel, it's just a little bit of aesthetic to clean you up." She found herself hushing at him, "It won't hurt more than a sting." He eyed her with distrust like a spooked horse as she slowly continued to approach him hands held up in a prone position. At first he backed up slowly but then he stopped retreating and stood watching warily as she reached out with the soaked towel and placed it against a dirty gouge on his shoulder. His mandibles flared and he hissed at her as she slowly cleaned the blood off from the cut and she did her best to focus on her task and ignore the seething beast.

Whitney almost backed off when she saw him slowly raise his hand but she stood her ground and waited as long black claws scraped against her skin as he encircled her throat with his massive hand and held her loosely like a chocker collar. She relaxed releasing tension from her back muscles and continued cleaning his wounds trying to ignore the heavy sweaty hand pressed against her pulse and the tickling feeling at the back of her neck where his claws met near her hair line.

She took a quick glance up into his eyes to see if there was hostility flickering in them but as soon as she looked she regretted it. His eyes were intense beneath a thick brow and set into his skull were they gleamed like two orbs of molten gold. He looked as though deep in thought and was studying her features with a scary intensity as if trying to read her mind. That idea unnerved her, what if this thing could read her thoughts? She redoubled her focus on the now bubbling peroxide as it cleaned the filth out of the ragged edges of the cut.

That was how the rest of the process went him holding her at arm's length by the throat as she stretched her own arm in attempts to clean as much of the mess as possible. Whitney found herself marvelling at the animal's body so different than her own but in many ways so strangely similar. His skin was actually scales so small you could barely tell if you weren't so close and his heavy hand around her neck felt smooth and slick like a lizard. The scales were more noticeable around the edges of the wounds were they were jagged and trying to knit back together, red and sore looking not unlike human skin around a cut. His coloring became more pronounced as she cleaned it of florescent green and crusty red, his belly, undersides of his arms, insides of his thighs and the palms of his hands were tawny in color while the rest was a dark forest green with flecks of black and brown spotted throughout like camouflage.

His face was also tawny but at the edges especially around his crowning forehead was a mottling black, covered somewhat by the bloody green bandage encircling his head, but the centerpiece of it all was his mandibles currently tucked closed around the gaping sucking hole that was its mouth. The mandibles seemed to be an extension of body language never ceasing in movement for more than a few seconds and even though they were folded in tightly against his face they continued to twitch and clench. The black tubes that could only be his equivalence to human hair were long reaching easily past his shoulders framing his face almost like Greek legend Medusa the gorgon who had snakes as hair. Looking closer at the raw stumps where two of the tubes had been sheared off she could tell that they were hollow on the inside but surrounding the small hollowing were numerous veins lining the inside of the tubes. The stumps looked as though they had been cauterized, probably to stop the immense blood flow. She reached up and swiped the stump with the peroxide soaked cloth and watched it immediately begin to sizzle.

It started him and then he yelped like a kicked dog and held her at his extended arm's length dangling only on her tippy toes. She fought to keep from him from strangling her pointing her toes like a ballerina to ease the pressure from her throat and dropping both cloth and peroxide bottle to grab his forearm for balance. She watched as beast took deep chortling breaths against the pain and tears sprung to his eyes reacting almost as though she had booted him in the nuts. As soon as his pain must have subsided he turned his attention back to her looking rather pissed off. Apparently he had played enough Nurse Whitney for the night.

Whitney, till struggling in his tight grip, was helpless as he walked them over to the bear rug in front of the fireplace and for the second time in the night found herself being dropped on her ass. The hardwood hurt even with the fur cushioning her rear end and she cried out in pain. All of the sudden he was on the ground next to her, pushing and rolling her body over with his unmatched strength, clicking ominously over her. Whitney started to panic kicking both feet out and swinging her elbow into his side, she heard him grunt at the blow then he was wrapping both his arms around her hugging her from behind to trap her arms against her chest. Her breasts squished painfully from his force of him crushing her own arms into them and she began the thrash her hips and legs violently while yelling for it to stop. Throwing his leg over her bucking hips he held her to the ground in a mock spooning embrace of a lover.

Whitney squirmed under the weight now completely restrained and she felt him contort his longer body bending so his bloody bandaged forehead pressed against the back of her neck where her spine turned into brainstem. Then the rumbling began, its vibration and pitch consumed her and scattered coherent thought from her mind, she knew she should struggling but suddenly she couldn't fight back. The vibration traveled down her spine and into her chest like bass at a concert and it soothed her tense muscles into piles of mush; she could even feel it pulsating in the soles of her feet. She tried to focus but all she could hear was the rough thrumming that echoed and seem to come from all sides coupled by the warmth she now felt against her back. It was like drowning, being pulled down into a thrumming pulsating whirlpool and she struggle for breath sucking it in through her lips in harsh gasps. She gave in no longer able to stay afloat and began to drift in the constant stream of the rumbling purr. She felt drowsy and her eyes began to close and she squirmed closer to the warmth and tingling vibration with a soft sigh. Seconds later she was asleep in his arms.

* * *

><p>Translations<p>

_Thei-de n'ritja - _Death Dance

__ki'cti-pa - __Spear


	5. Chapter 5

I would like to apologize for my absence, I wont bore you with the details just trust me when I say it's been quite a ride. However I'm very happy to be back writing and giving this chapter which was sort of the initial spark that started the whole story. This chapter is for Luv4Uncas, I'm still writing and hopefully I'll be a little more frequent now that the storms passed, hope you like the new chapter!

Grace

Desperate Times

Chapter 5

* * *

><p>Whitney woke up unable to move and unable to breath, her body hot and sticky against the course flesh of another. She tried to roll away from the unbearable heat at her back, peeling away sticky layers of blood and sweat that had formed between them over night, but a massive thick arm encircling her waist stopped her. Black claws lightly played over her hip where her tank top had rode up and she stared at the strangeness of what she was seeing. What was holding her, cuddling her, was not human.<p>

Then lasts night's occurrence quickly replayed in her mind and the foggy confusion that had blanketed her senses in her first moments of awakening were gone. Now she had one goal in mind, to put some distance between her and the hypnotising alien. Her limbs felt like jel-lo, almost as though she had a five hour massage, as she tried to prop herself up on an elbow. She couldn't turn over to see if he was awake but judging from the smooth even rumbles that came from his chest she assumed he was still in wonderland. Grabbing two fistfuls of the bear rug she tried to pull herself away toward the couch, wiggling her hips trying to throw off his heavy limb.

There was a slight stirring behind her and she froze instantly waiting for him to settle again. He shifted slightly and snorted lightly then pulled her back flush against his chest. She could feel the sticky fluids squishing in-between their skin and the sharp sting of the medical staples pricking along her spine, but mostly she could feel the hard object pressing against her lower back. It would seem her new friend had a small problem, that was anything BUT small, now felt like she was lying with an eggplant and an alien.

Now she was in full blown panic mode, she didn't care if her struggling woke him up but she was not going to be seen as an option for relief when he woke up with his little predicament. Pulling with her arms and digging her toes in to push, she then thrashed her hips back and forth. This only seem to further his excitement and his other arm slipped underneath her struggling body and then he grabbed her hips in each massive hand, his clawed digits overlapping on her stomach, and pulled their hips flush.

She felt the soft yet hard skin of his erection slide against her back and her assailant grunted in pleasure with a hint of frustration, his hot breath cascading over her shoulders and neck forming small beads of condensation.

She wiped her arm around elbowing him in his bicep and kicked her legs out as his shins. She felt him curl around her, wrapping his mandibles into her hair pulling some of the strands out of her ponytail while jerking his hips up again. The air filled with a dense smell of meat and musk making it hard to breathe and her head spin. Saliva dripped onto her hair and ran across her scalp while the thick ridged length stroked up her back again. She yelped out in fear and grabbed fistfuls of the bear fur trying to pull away but only succeeded to pull it closer.

Her struggling only seem to excited him more and more, and he started to mumble in clicks and guttural words, squeezing her hips hard in his massive hands. She could feel his claws piercing into her belly and blood welled up around his fingers before dripping down onto the floor. She grabbed at both of his hands trying feebly to pull his claws out of her skin only to have him buck into her again rubbing his erection between their bodies slickening it with the blood and sweat that had begun to coagulate on her back.

She cried out again and tossed her head back in pain as the monsters claws dug deeper and the back of her head smacked into his caressing mandibles. He screeched in pain and it only encouraged her to do it again, pain lighting up at the back of her skull as it connected the side of his face.

He was stirring behind her, finally waking up, and he growled and hissed sounding confused. She clawed at his hands and screamed at him to let her go. Then she heard the start of the purring and he leaned down to press his forehead against her neck, fear was replaced by the instinct to fight and she tossed her head back with all her strength, arching her spine for more force, and struck him right where the green-stained bandage was wrapped around his forehead. The scream of pain deafened her, rattling her insides, and base instinct took over causing her to release the death grip on his rough hands to cover her ringing ears. She felt the claws slide deeper into her belly before they were harshly ripped out. Free of the monster's grip she rolled away until she hit the base of the couch and then leaped over the top of it, hitting the hard wood with a thud.

* * *

><p><em>Nracha-dte <em>was dreaming, he knew a dream from reality, but it was a good dream so he let himself go to its whim. It felt so real it was almost tangible, there was a female spread before him on a thick glossy fur and she was soft and smelt of the forest. He clicked to her softly asking for her permission to touch her sensuous body and she eagerly clicked back, arching into his touch. He reached out and smoothed his hands down both her sides, paying attention to her curves and scars, her skin felt like the softest of furs. She was bare except for a white loincloth covering her modesty.

She reached up and wrapped her velvet hands into his long tresses lighting his nerves on fire with desire which he vocalized in a series of clicks and musk. His thick musk quickly filled the dark room but her rich intoxicating forest smell clung to the inside of his mouth driving his desire to mate her. He gripped her sides and roughly pulled their hips flush to see his naked need rub against the white leather covering her sex, a visual he committed to memory. Only untouched females could wear white loincloths and it was a great honor to claim one for the first time.

He stretched over her, one hand hovering between her thighs the other reaching up and stroking over her soft cheek and then slipping into her silky brown mane of hair, all the while purring and trilling. He wanted to know her name and he whispered his question in her ear. She bucked her hips up against his hand lustfully and moaned a noise both soft and sweet coming from her plush parted lips. That wasn't an answer though.

Something about his dream was off he realized and he paused unsure of himself. He looked at the withering child-maker under him but the more he tried to see her features the harder it was to focus, almost like she was made of shadows.

"_Nracha-dte, please_", her voice sounded like that of a goddess as she whispered his name and his uncertainties were forgotten as quick as they had arose. He hooked his claws under the edge of the loincloth and began to slowly pull it up to claim her, digging his mandibles into the crook of her neck to taste her salty skin. Once she was bare her put each of his massive hands on her slim hips and lined up his girth to sheath himself inside her virgin sex. He clicked a warning into her neck reminding her to relax and then push forward slowly.

Instead of feeling the tight wetness he was expecting, his sensitive flesh slid across her soft belly and for a second he was very confused. He missed? How does one miss? Then he heard the light giggling of his partner so he turned his attention to her face. She was covering her mouth with one of her small delicate hands but seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes he could picture the devious smile behind it. Her teasing only egged him on and her gripped her hips with determination and thrusted into her. At the seemingly last second she jerked her hips upward and his length this time slid across her backside.

She didn't bother to hide the sinister grin this time and he growled in annoyance at her games now determined to wipe the smile of her face. Maybe he dug his claws in a little deep but it was the nature of Yautya to be violent during mating and quite honestly everything about this encounter was….. well unconventional. He wasn't even bleeding and that was basically a requirement in the first few seconds. She however didn't have the same requirements it seemed and she hissed at him baring her teeth in anger. Seconds later her fist met his mandibles, it stung like any pain he had experienced and like all pain it excited him, he felt himself get harder (if possible) and blindly bucked forward for any simulation. He dug his claws deeper into her yielding flesh searching for more of that delicious pain, her small noises of pain and his own as she landed several more blows to his face and body. She was struggling in his hands and he loved it, it felt so real; the warmth of her skin, the smell of her blood, the quick beat of her heart.

Then finally she landed a hit with some real bite to it and his eyes opened into the harsh mourning light coming from the windows of the cabin. For a few split seconds he was sure he was still dreaming as he tried to recognize the small being he had in his grasp but the smell of blood and his own mating musk was disorientating, demanding action from his primal instincts.

Then, as though the other had sensed that he was now awake, she began to yell at him in a clipped shrill voice and swung her head back to hit him again. He ducked away from the blow so it glance off his cheekbone and dug his claws farther into the soft meat of her belly trying to hold her still against his own bulk. She was still yelling and he focused on the sound of her hoarse noises trying to hear them over the noise of blood pounding in his ears.

"Stop! Let me go!" He knew the rough sound of the human language like it was his own, having grown accustom to it over the months, but it seemed out of place here. Wait, where was here?

The rush of information he had momentarily forgotten made him feel lightheaded accompanied with the disturbing notion of the undeniable stiffness between his legs and the human pressed painfully against it. Was he trying to rut the human in his sleep?

He needed to calm the crazy female down so he could think straight and focus because Paya herself knew he wasn't sexually attracted to this….thing. It was warm inside and it's hide was soft and it was the first time in months his dreams hadn't been nightmares, so what if he had gotten a little excited, that sort of thing just happened sometimes. Quickly he ducked his head forward he began to purr deep in his chest trying to press against her so she would fall sleep like it had worked the night before.

He had forgotten how strong even the weakest of beings attacks could be when driven by fear and never would he have guessed that the small struggling female could deliver such a powerful blow.

The shrieked he emitted when the back of her skull connected to the already damaged portion of his forehead sounded more like a wild beast dying then of a respectable blooded hunter. He could feel the brutal pulsating of the wound as fresh blood welled in the incisions and began to gush down his face and into his hands that he had gently cupped around the bandages. His ears were ringing and he could just make out a whine of pain coming from somewhere in the room, then he realized that piteous noise was coming from him. Disgusted he coughed and began gently wiping the blood away from his face, tasting the bitter flavor as it dripped in between his mandibles. One part of his tormented mind wanted revenge, to go grab a fistful of the little bitch's hair and wham her head against the wall until she knew his pain but there was the familiar nagging voice right behind the other saying "it was your own damn fault".

His vision burned a cherry red from the heat of the viscous fluid and he could barely make out the multi-colored shape of the human, who was aiming at him down the sights of the projectile weapon he had seen her use earlier. At the mercy of the hands of a human once again he could only assume the gods looked down to play with his life with a sick sadistic joy, leaving his life in the balance of whether or not a little unwilling pre-mating preamble was to be punishable by death in the context of another species, because if it were a Yautya female his corpse would have been cold already. She was looking at him with disgust, her teeth bared in challenge, and all he could do was look back. So much fighting and praying and running boiling down to this moment and he wondered if she would be the one to end it all, part of him wanted her to end his suffering but the other half couldn't believe it would end like this. As cruel as the gods may be they couldn't end his journey now, not when he was finally free from his prison and ready to gain back his honor. However one's own fate is unavoidable so he squared his shoulders, met her hostile eyes and sent a small prayer to Paya, as it was all he could do at this point.

Seconds felt like anguished hours in their small stand off and when she suddenly huffed a long sigh and exited the cabin his own gasp of relief came shortly after. He sagged on his knees feeling the unbearable chill of the outside ghost over his hide and began to pray, not the small little saying all warriors recited before their inevitable passing, but true long palms dedicating his body and being to the all-mother Paya and the death dealer Centanu. Prayers he had not recited so clearly and with so much passion since his rite of passing.

A great clarity calmed his mind and fast pounding heart and when he was finished as many as he could recall he slumped slightly letting his head roll to the side from its great weight. Gently using the pads of his fingers he swiped the blood from his eyes and inspected the still oozing wound, testing the raised edges and applying pressure in a sad attempt to stop the bleeding, hissing at the sharp stinging sensation. He was still surprised the little female had managed to hit him so hard, the blow had broken the partially healed incisions that formed the small square on his forehead and shifted the bone slightly, not enough that he was concerned but enough for him to feel the small pressure difference.

He was chilled he realized, the fire has sizzled down over the night to nothing but a small pile of smoldering ash and the room was dim, no harsh yellow light coming from the lights he was sure were on when he had laid them down for the night. Cocking his head he paused, straining to listen over his still throbbing brain, there was no muffled chugging of the powering unit in the human's storage shed. It has likely stopped sometime during the night and he would bet that he could find the female there tending to it.

How to approach her though? How does one go about saying "Hey I'm sorry I violated you while I slept but I have nowhere else to go, so can we just forget about it?" Smooth. Grunting as he pushed himself off the ground he collected his balance and his wits, preparing for his next move and much to his dissatisfaction the cold he had only recently escaped.


End file.
